News & Views

Reinventing Wall Street – and Business’s Relationship to It

At Sustainable Brands '12 in San Diego, more than 15 collaborative teams, emerging from the ideas of the attendees, designed innovative initiatives for a more sustainable society – especially those where business and brands can lead the way. One team of thought leaders – Andrew Winston of Eco Strategies, Alex Lamb of TruCost, Erol Odabasi of Johnson & Johnson, Sheila McLean of MSL Group, Nancy Giordano of Play Big, Fabio Marconi formerly of Dell, Bill Roth of Earth 2017 and me/Paul Herman of HIP Investor – shared a short-list of actions to reinvent business’s relationship to Wall Street. (Slideshow after the break).

At Sustainable Brands '12 in San Diego, more than 1300 innovators, executives and corporate professionals focused on how a sustainability approach can lead to more market share, mindshare and momentum – and ultimately to potential profit and shareholder value. See the compelling presentations on video here.

Over 4 days in June, more than 15 collaborative teams, emerging from the ideas of the attendees, designed innovative initiatives for a more sustainable society – especially those where business and brands can lead the way.

A team of thought leaders – including executives from Johnson & Johnson to TruCost – shared a short-list of actions to reinvent business’s relationship to Wall Street.

VISION: Companies are managed not for the short-term quarterly hamster wheel, but for a marathon toward greatness.

Implement a 100% day-trading tax; and a zero-tax on capital gains over 5 years; with a graduated scale in between.

Compensation for the top 10 executives voted on annually by long-time shareholders

Human Capital Value – people as assets on the balance sheet… and in your annual reports, like Infosys does.

Ecological Value – the “true cost” of carbon, water, land use and other factors over their entire lifecycle (a la Puma’s Eco P&L, valued by PwC and TruCost)….and in your 10-K, 10-Q and annual reports (like the US SEC has requested but not yet mandated, despite acknowledging carbon is a material risk).

Create a “League of Extraordinary CEOs” (or a Club for Long-Term Growth), where CEOs and Board directors can jointly organize around sustainable growth and long-term success.

Issue a CEO-led challenge to other CEOs to join the club. Initial members could be Unilever, Patagonia, Starbucks and Infosys.

Craft and draft a “Declaration of Independence from Wall Street” so that it be signed and spread among employees.

Do you agree? Want to take action? Start pursuing a more sustainable path today. Let us know at HIP what initiatives you are pioneering or advancing – and we may write about them in the media at Huffington Post, Triple Pundit and CSRwire, as well as SustainableBrands.com. (See the full PowerPoint presentation below)